Archive for January, 2013

I got this quote in the mail from Gunlaws.com this morning "The Brady bill will make the streets of America so safe that our nation's police will not even need to carry guns anymore." William Jefferson Clinton, on TV, while signing the Brady bill in 1993,quoted in Sheriff Richard Mack's book, The Magic of Gun Control. The problem is that politicians know this isn’t true, but they continue to sell it anyway. They promise a unicorn in every household and even though anyone with an IQ just north...

Fingerprint security on a gun is one of the dumber ideas of the 21st century. My father is a cop. The laptops they give them come with fingerprint readers. Most of the time, he simply cannot get into his laptop. The technology isn’t there to let a cop access his computer under a no-stress situation, the technology isn’t there for when you’re grabbing your pistol in the middle of the night in a flop sweat with the wrong hand trying to fend off an attacker. Guns are supposed to be simple tools....

I has a sad. I was reading several posts yesterday all revolving around how AWB wouldn’t have stopped any of the mass shootings we’ve had, mostly on right-leaning sites like Brietbart, Twitchy, Hot Air, etc. What I saw in the comments reminded me that sometimes, the enemy of my enemy happens to be people who call themselves my ‘side’, and it scares me. We have conspiracy theorists on our side who no amount of proof is enough to dissuade them from their conspiracy. Every official report is met...

A good friend of mine wrote her congressman regarding the push for gun control. His response is exactly what I want to see from our politicians Dear Mrs. [******], There has been a lot of talk about gun control and the Second Amendment following the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. First and foremost, no words can describe the unspeakable tragedy that occurred in Connecticut. With the loss of so many innocent lives, especially the young children, my...

Can we stop pretending we need to have a conversation now? San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne is fully supportive of the Obama/Feinstein gun grab, and says if lawmakers play it right Americans can be completely disarmed within “a generation.” Emphasis mine. The goal is and has always been disarmament and from that, control. There is nothing in their conversation that revolves around safety, protection, respect of the Constitution or the acknowledgement of the sovereignty of the...

Sebastian has a good read about how compliance with any new law requires our willingness to go along with it. I had a post being written with a single word – No. Means the same thing. However he has a larger point. At some point, enough people will stop granting authority to those who think they have it and then things start getting messy. And as Jeff Goldstein says To which I’d say, people like Feinstein should be more careful about who they describe as venal extremists. Because at some...

It will go as far as Stephen Hawking can throw a 50lb sack of potatoes. Other than that, it will be used as the starting point for ‘compromise’, which is the entire point. They want us to give up all of our rights, we don’t want to give up any. To ‘compromise’ by just giving up a few is a loss for us and they will paint us as recalcitrant and unwilling to compromise. Fine by me.

One of my father-in-law’s lifelong friends and a man who was like a second father to my wife fell off a ladder earlier this week, hitting his head on the driveway. At the hospital, they couldn’t detect any brain activity so when his family all arrived this morning, they removed life support and he passed. I knew him well enough to feel some loss. He was often at family events, always invited to birthday parties and celebrations. His children were my wife’s and her brother’s best friends growing...

While California Senator Dianne Feinstein was filing a bill in the U.S. Senate to ban millions of privately owned firearms, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office filed documents attempting to have the Florida Supreme Court prohibit a Florida appellate court from hearing the case of Dale Norman, a concealed carry licensee who was convicted of violating Florida’s ban on the unconcealed carry of firearms. In Florida, it is generally unlawful to carry a firearm except under the state’s...

So the software I’m currently working on deals with stocks and whatnot. I was asked to estimate how long it would take to implement a feature called a Fibonacci Retracement. My reply? “It would take 1, 2, 3, 5, or 8 days. 13 at the worst.”

Again, I believe government pressure is behind the sudden corporate distancing of supporting anything gun related. Geico (who I will never do business with) cancels an auto policy because the guy makes firearm parts Turns out, this was not a nefarious blow against the 2A, but that GEICO doesn’t cover several types of businesses that they deem too risky (including Pizza Delivery cars). So, I retract the previous statement and admit error. Hat Tip to Say Uncle, who Geico won’t cover because they...

Pardon my tin-foil hattery here, but I sense when banks and lenders stop working with gun stores, it’s not because they don’t want the money, it’s because of external, political pressure. G.E. is 100% in the government’s pocket (hence why they don’t pay a dime in taxes). This doesn’t surprise me, but it does worry me. This is another reason I only pay cash for things and never credit.

We fought a pretty good war to rid ourselves of a king. I seem to recall though that even after the war against England, some people simply wanted a different king. Luckily, liberty minded heads prevailed and we gave ourselves a constitutionally limited republic of federated states and put the power of people’s lives into their own hands. At some point, the office of President started turning into Elected King. I’m OK with a single person having veto power over bills submitted to him, this...

I went from “Clean the pistol immediately after each pull of the trigger” to “I think I have some Hoppe’s #9 around here, I’m just not sure where.” I’m serious, friends used to lend me their guns because they knew I’d clean it before giving it back and now I’ve started keeping a dead-blow mallet in the range bag for when I need to rack the slide. Pathetic.

But this weekend another light in my kitchen blew out. Incandescent spots are cheap, and the light they put out is perfect. The CFL spots? Expensive and shitty light quality, plus I’ve yet to get the lifespan out of a CFL that they promise. So instead, I spent $180 and bought 6 LED lights. WOW. Not only do the casings on these things look better than the contractor grade cans we had, the light is SUPERB. The color is perfect, it’s even a little bit brighter than the 65W incandescent lights we...

My elder cat, Bueller, is getting on in age. He’s 13 and has been diagnosed with an auto immune disorder where he literally chews himself until he bleeds. A steroid shot clears him up for a few weeks (usually 3 to 4) but then it’s back to the vet’s for another. We’ve been doing what we can, and the vet was nice enough to simply write a ‘prescription’ so that a lab tech can just give him the shot without an exam, keeping the cost to $46 rather than $160. Still, that’s an added expense each...

A friend of mine lent me his SIRT Training Pistol over the holidays (poor soul wants it back too, and I’ve been both sick and on the opposite side of the county for the past few weeks) and I’ve realized I’m really, really missing something in my shooting. You see, I can draw the SIRT from my side, aim at a point no bigger than a credit card anywhere I want, and put the green dot right on it. Repeatedly. And quickly too. Want me to move between 5 different targets? No problem. <10 yards and I...

When we’re not talking about the same things? Look, those who clamor to ban magazine sizes, cosmetic features, even rate of fire are not concerned with crime, ‘the children’, safety, or rights. The very foundation of gun control is control. Those who support it do so either out of abject ignorance or a desire to see the individual subservient to the state. Oh, there are a few people who deeply believe that if we just stopped selling 17 round magazines, Glocks, and AR’s that violence would...

Folks, our political world right now is a giant, steaming, pile of shit. I’m doing what I can to stay afloat, but the constant reading of every little remark from our inglorious Ruler to the attacks at the state level have increased my stress level to a very unhealthy level. As in, it’s ruining my life. I need to step back for a while. My family is suffering, I am suffering severely with things I thought I had put to rest long ago, and I’m wearing out mentally. I’ve got to stop reading the news...

So, I have an interesting problem that I’d love to get solved by tomorrow afternoon, but trying to cram Trigonometry 101 into an evening where I’m not feeling that well doesn’t seem to be feasible. So, I figured I’d ask the Interweb Tubes in hopes that one of my readers likes math. Here’s the scenario. The application I’m working on has a user who needs to draw a rectangle of a known width, but not length nor angle. The user draws a line by clicking and dragging. The first point (P1) is where...

I got this email today from Senator Rubio Dear Mr. Allen, Thank you for writing to me regarding the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. I share your concern for the victims of this tragedy. My heart breaks for the victims and families impacted by this senseless act of violence. In a world that can at times be defined by its darkness, children are a reminder of what is good, cheerful and beautiful about life. An act of violence against these defenseless young people, as well as the faculty...

I’ve written my congresscritters and misrepresentatives about the sudden push for gun control after the Sandy Hook shooting. I received my first response from Congressman Dennis Ross Dear Mr. Allen: Thank you for contacting my office. I appreciate that you took the time to express your views on this important matter and am happy to respond. The senseless violence which occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School has no place in our society and certainly has no place in our classrooms. ...

A while back, Lucky Gunner asked if I’d review some PMC Bronze ammo. I often purchase PMC at the range since it is inexpensive and never seemed to have any problems with it, so I was more than happy to accept. I had done plenty of reviews of ammo before, usually with a chronograph and some ‘rest’ shooting, but this time I decided to do a little different test and run them through a USPSA competition to see how they performed outside of a range. First, good luck finding it. I’m sure when Lucky...

http://www.assaultweapon.info/ Well done, fairly quick and easy, and would make a good site to send your friends who think an AWB is a good idea. I especially like pointing out that murders committed with rifles that fell under the AWB went down after the ban expired and more of them were sold.

But Bill Nelson is going to look for any chance he can get to sign a gun ban bill. He’s asking for votes right now on his website. Please go vote NO. Our voices must be heard. Update - The poll was down for a while because the numbers were wonky. Looks like it’s fixed and dammit, if this isn’t a a sharp reminder that there is NO support for an AWB, then I don’t know what is I had to ‘vote’ again to see the response rates, and yes the day is early and yes the numbers are because people...

Stupid calls for “Smart Guns” will be back in force. People who honestly believe that smart guns are the answer apparently have different comprehension of the word “Smart”. Even if the technology were perfect, with power supplied by unicorn hair that never died and electronics that were made out of Adamantium and would never break and the software written by the best experts in the world with 0 defects and thus the device would work 100% of the time in 100% of all situations, there’s still the...

A reader came by with an idea of setting up a table at gun shows with a printer and some computers to allow people to write their representatives letters. I informed this person that my understanding is that due to the Anthrax scare, physical letters can take weeks to get to their destination. Instead, I had an idea – what if you were to grab an old phone booth (mostly to keep the background noise down) and helped people find their representatives’ numbers so they could call? Right there, on...

But when a good guy has a gun and is where they need to be, don’t expect national coverage. School resource office, beat cop, teacher, parent. I don’t care who has the tools, what those tools are, or where they carry them so long as they are willing to use them in defense of our children, even if it means putting their lives in danger. Carolyn Gudger, the school resource officer, drew her gun, then shielded the principal’s body with her own. God bless her. She chased the gunman in order to get...

Except when they say they are. And they continue to use the word “confiscation”. They mean to take them, from your cold dead hands if that’s what it requires. Nice Republic you had there, shame about the fact you elected fucking idiots and told them they were royalty and had run of the place.

We should regulate cars the same way we regulate guns. Read the whole things for gems such as this To have a turbocharger, supercharger (External Engine Compression Devices) or a muffler will require an application to the Federal Bureau of Motor Vehicles. A $2000 tax stamp will be required for these High Performance Vehicles. Your request must also be signed by the local chief law enforcement officer, and you must provide fingerprints. If approved in 10-16 weeks, you will be responsible for...

Another fun one from Vonage. DirecTV called to confirm installation. The first part of message was in Española but Vonage don’t care ‘bout those kinds of things and tried to Englishify it. The results were… well, look and see Hello, this is a message from direct TV, seeing if if you got a program at focus last approximate Eta 45 or jamming outside and we will just seeing those single woman maybe one or two of those days. Jammin’ outside and seeing single women. Ah, to be young and a Satellite...

I think that we, as gun owners, can apply enough heat to legislators to keep them from passing gun control. We cannot stop now, we must continue to expend a lot of time, money, and energy in doing so, but I think in that particular battle, we will be successful. There’s nothing like a few thousand, pissed off gun owners calling you at all hours of the day to put the fear of God into you. What I fear is that Obama has much more leverage to do crap like this President Obama plans to ally himself...

Cat used to smuggle contraband into prison RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A cat carrying a saw and a mobile phone was "detained" as it entered a prison gate in northeast Brazil, Brazilian media reported on Saturday. Prison guards were surprised when they saw a white cat crossing the main gate of the prison, its body wrapped with tape. A closer look showed the feline also carried drills, an earphone, a memory card, batteries and a phone charger. The cat, of course, stopped when it saw the signs...

The Gunshine state shows how it’s done. Guns are a problem – to the tyrants since they prevent them from ruling us with an iron fist. This is why they’ll use any leverage they can get, discard any fact that goes against their wishes, and continue to blame an object used in less murders than hammers. They won’t stop. They can’t. It’s not in their nature and thus we must remain ever vigilant.

Glenn Reynolds has the same problem I do I’m a decent shot with a handgun, though — as I find out whenever I shoot in competitions — while my accuracy is good, I don’t have the speed that real pistol competitors have. They’ll get off five shots in the time it takes me to get two, and they’ll be at least as accurate as me. I didn’t compete yesterday because it was one of those rare times when both girls were out of the house having sleepovers with friends (kind of a last hurrah before school...

So, I repurposed my old desktop a Core 2 Quad with 8G of RAM into a new server. The old server was an POS Athlon dual core running Hyper-V so the server itself only had 1G of memory to work with and, while it was solid as a rock and hadn’t had a single crash in all the years it was running, if you asked it to do two things at once, it slowed to a crawl. I skipped doing a virtual this time. It’s just another layer in the mix and one I had very, very little experience with, so instead of risking...

The interface to Akismet was relatively simple as someone else had already packaged up the API so I just grabbed it and put it into Ansible. I woke up this morning with a few dozen spam comments which got through the generic “Are you a spammer” thing, so I’m going to give Akismet a try to see if that helps. I’m more worried about false positives than anything, so if you see your comments slipping into a moderated state, let me know via the contact form. I can assist with the training by...

More people killed with hammers and blunt instruments than rifles every year Think about it: In 2005, the number of murders committed with a rifle was 445, while the number of murders committed with hammers and clubs was 605. In 2006, the number of murders committed with a rifle was 438, while the number of murders committed with hammers and clubs was 618. And so the list goes, with the actual numbers changing somewhat from year to year, yet the fact that more people are killed with...

Florida Carry and over 27 other State and National organizations form “National Coalition to Stop the Gun Ban” When the 1994 “Assault Weapons” Ban was proposed many gun owners thought that the bill had no chance of passing. They were shocked that the bill actually became law. Sen. Feinstein is at it again with a legislative proposal that will be published as early as today. Her new ban is even more restrictive than the 1994 ban. We are beginning to see supposedly pro-gun Republicans and...

The life of a full-time-employee / contractor is interesting. I work for my employer, they whore contract me out to other places. The first place I started working at lasted 20+ months which was a bit long for me, but today I start a new contract that’s only slated for 3 months. The big difference with this contract is that I should be able to work remotely for the majority of the time. Maybe 1 or 2 days at the client’s every week or two, but the rest of the time will be spent in the office...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has released a summary of the gun control measures that she wishes to implement, mere days after the horrific shooting of 26 people, including 20 children, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Ceasing on the “opportunity to do things [that he] could not do before”… On Sunday, President Obama declared he would use the “full weight” of his office to support the measure. We, as a nation, have endured more than 40 years of the modern gun control...

I took the liberty of opening the package for you which come to think about it, although very helpful since the packaging is that stupid blister pack kind that you have to destroy to open, voided any warranty and now you can’t take them back. So, hope you enjoy them because they’re yours for good.